INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE: Our cricket tipster The Edge previews Wednesday’s Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers Bangalore match in the IPL with a recommended BETDAQ bet.
The Edge has been a professional cricket trader for over 12 years, and we are delighted to have his columns on BETDAQ Tips. He provides his best bets on a points scale between 1 and 5, with 5 being a rare max bet.
Because we see so much action in-running on cricket, he will also provide some in-running strategies that could develop in-play and lead to some excellent value bets. The Edge covers all forms of cricket: Test Matches, ODI’s and T20’s but his favourite competition is the Indian Premier League each season.
MATCH OVERVIEW:
It’s Match 39 at the Indian Premier League as Kolkata Knight Riders take on Royal Challengers Bangalore at Abu Dhabi. It wasn’t an enjoyable week for KKR last week, as they lost by 82 runs against RCB and then eight wickets against Mumbai Indians, however they came through a Super Over on Sunday against Sunrisers Hyderabad and that might just be the slice of luck they needed to turn their fortunes around.
With England captain Eoin Morgan now leading KKR, it’ll be interesting to see are they more competitive than against RCB last week! RCB are having one of their best IPL seasons for many years, and look extremely likely to make the Playoffs. AB de Villiers is in excellent form and we have seen what a match winner he is. If Kohli can keep playing the anchor role in the middle then the platform is there for de Villiers to win the game. Finch could improve at the top of the order however, and if they can get all three playing at their best then they can beat anyone.
The big question is what can RCB do if the big three fail? We’ve yet to see that answered to be honest, with the likely answer being a heavy defeat. KKR have their own issues; Russell looks terribly out of form with the bat and their bowling has been leaking too many runs. They seem to change their batting order every game too.
WEATHER AND PITCH WATCH:
The wickets are starting to slow down a lot in the UAE recently, and CSK could only manage 125/5 for here on Monday. Rajasthan chased it down easily, and we have had bigger scores than usual here, with Mumbai even posting 190+ on multiple occasions. I’d expect around 165 to be a par score, with anything over that being pretty difficult to chase. Thankfully we are set fair with the weather, which has been fantastic right through the tournament.
RECOMMENDED BET:
I take on board that RCB need the big three to fire with the bat, and that their bowling could be better – but they have enough firepower to beat this KKR side. The KKR bowling isn’t great and they give away too many runs – they are unlikely to put a huge amount of pressure on the RCB batting and once RCB build a platform then they can really finish their innings in style. KKR have a few issues with their batting too, and I expected RCB to be slower than 1.8 here. I’m very happy with the 1.85 on offer.
The Edge Says:
Two points win Royal Challengers Bangalore to beat Kolkata Knight Riders at 1.85 with BETDAQ betting exchange
View the market here -> http://bit.ly/BDQKkrRcb
IN-RUNNING STRATEGY:
CSK made a mess of batting first here on Monday, but in general batting first has been the way to go here. You certainly get the best batting conditions, even allowing for some of the heavy dew falls we have had here. I would be keen to get on the team batting first, especially if that was RCB as the KKR bowling gives away too many runs. The RCB bowling is very “attackable” too; however we’ve yet to see KKR really fire with the bat. Yes, they have done enough to win games – but the likes of Russell or Morgan haven’t finished an innings and put a game to bed quickly like we’ve seen with AB de Villiers for example.
I would be keen to be against Russell when he comes out to bat again. I know he can move the market away quickly, but he looks out of form and I’d rather take my chances with the market moving for his wicket than hoping he hits sixes. He hasn’t done so in the tournament yet. I would also be happily against the RCB lower order once de Villiers is out as they look pretty weak on paper, and when we’ve seen them a handful of times.
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